Wadia College students have adopted rooftop rain harvesting plans

Students of Wadia College have Adopted rooftop rainwater harvesting that will provide 87 lakh litres of water to their college from next year

While Puneites are bemoaning the 40 per cent water cut implemented by the PMC, a group of students from Wadia College have adopted an innovative way to beat the water shortage.

The students have conserving water in their college campus by adopting rooftop rainwater harvesting technique.



And by doing so, they'll be able to provide 87 lakh litres of water to their college from next year.

Explained professor D S Aadkar, "As we may face water cuts next year too, 80 engineering students from our college along with the National Students' Service (NSS) and volunteers of the NGO Members of Brotherhood (MoB) carried out a survey on the feasibility of rooftop rainwater harvesting."

Kaustubh Kapdnis, a student said, "Not only did we carry out the survey but also we helped dig the trenches."

In the first phase, a capacity of 37-lakh litres was generated while the remaining 50-lakh litres capacity will be generated in the second phase. According to MoB member Amit Jathar, the group selected the rooftops of the buildings of examination department, mechanical department, physics department, college of engineering and the college well for harvesting rainwater.

They readied the infrastructure in two weeks. Explaining the process, Diksha Sharma, final year BE (Computer science) said, "Rainwater will be collected through down takes and trenches. It will then undergo a filtering process before it is collected in the well."

The well is the college's main source of water for all purposes except drinking, confirmed Vice Principal Abhay Hake.

He added, "As the college is expanding, we will need more water in the future. This project will reduce our dependency on non-potable water."

Dr Umesh Mundlye who consulted on this project stated that this exercise would increase the water table level in the area. Subsequently, the total dissolvable salt percentage present in the water will come down thereby improving the quality of the water.